Musicians Sarah Harmer, Grimes join B.C. anti-pipeline protests

Musicians Sarah Harmer and Grimes joined dozens of Indigenous youth and other demonstrators who gathered at Kinder Morgan’s Burnaby Terminal on Saturday morning to protest the expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline.

The musicians, who are in Vancouver for the Juno Awards Sunday night, could not immediately be reached for comment. But in a video posted to Greenpeace Canada’s Facebook page, Harmer said the project “needs to be turned back and stopped.”

Protesters are prohibited by a court injunction from entering within five metres of two Kinder Morgan terminals. About 115 people, including Green Party Leader Elizabeth May and local New Democrat MP Kennedy Stewart, have been arrested in the past week.

The pipeline expansion project would triple the flow of oil products from Alberta to the B.C. coast. The federal government approved the expansion in 2016, but the project continues to face significant opposition in B.C.

Thousands of people have been rallying against it, and Premier John Horgan has raised concerns about its possible environmental and economic impacts.

Cedar George-Parker, who was among the young Indigenous leaders who led a march to the site on Saturday, said the project poses too great a risk to Tsleil-Waututh First Nation lands.

“We’re taking a stand against the Kinder Morgan pipeline, we’re standing up against bullies. Justin Trudeau can’t do his job by securing the safety of our future, so we’ll do it for him,” George-Parker said in an interview at the site.

Organizers with Protect the Inlet say more than 70 protesters at the site on Saturday were prepared to be arrested.